Early symptoms of the work-related musculoskeletal disorders in hand and upper extremity in the poultry industry

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to identify the early musculoskeletal symptoms of the hand and upper-extremity of the workers in the poultry industry. A group of 154 workers in the poultry industry participated in our study. Fifty nine of these workers were women mean aged 30.25 years ' 6.19; 95 were men mean aged 28.52 years' 5.35. The majority of the female workers surveyed, 86%, expressed complaints in their hands, 27% in the arms, 27% in the shoulders, 20% in the forearms, 11% in the elbows and 53% of the male workers voiced some complaints in their hands, 14% in arms, 12% in shoulders, 7% in forearms and 4% in elbows. According to these results, both female and male workers were observed to have complaints mostly on the hands/wrists; these are followed by the arm/shoulder and forearm/elbow complaints. At the end of the study, depending on the early musculoskeletal findings in hand and upper extremities we determined to call attention to the following two points 1. the necessity of providing the employers and the employees with the educational programs aiming at preventing these disorders 2. regular check ups should be given to the workers